Sixty-eighth session
Special Political and Decolonization Committee
(Fourth Committee)
Agenda item 5
Election of the officers of the Main Committees

Letter dated 13 June 2014 from the Chair of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation addressed to the Chair of the Fourth Committee

I am writing to you in my capacity as Chair of the Ambassadorial Group of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and I wish to refer to the forthcoming elections of the Chairs and Members of the Bureaus of the Main Committees of the General Assembly scheduled for Monday, 16 June 2014.

I would like to express the strong rejection of the OIC member States of the candidacy of Israel, on behalf of the Western European and other States Group, for a Vice-Chair post of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee). OIC considers the candidacy of Israel, an occupying power for several decades, for the post of Vice-Chair of the Fourth Committee not only unacceptable, but also a mockery, especially for a committee that is tasked mainly with addressing decolonization and other sensitive issues, including those issues related to the Palestinian refugees, human rights and peacekeeping and the work of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories.

OIC believes that there is neither credibility nor eligibility with regard to the candidacy of a State that has constantly violated all the United Nations resolutions relevant to its decades-long occupation, including the resolutions adopted by the Fourth Committee itself and those adopted by the General Assembly and the Security Council. It should be underscored that Israel has acted in deliberate violation and disrespect of the Charter of the United Nations, and voted against most resolutions of the Fourth Committee, which gives a clear indication about Israel’s disrespect of the Fourth Committee and the work of the General Assembly, especially in matters related to the question of Palestine.

In my capacity as Chair of OIC, I respectfully request the circulation of the present letter to all Member States for their immediate and valuable consideration.

(Signed) Mamadi Touré Ambassador Permanent Representative of Guinea to the United Nations Chair of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation